


Talk Pastry to Me.

by Memori_wanderis



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Bitty Bottles Things Up, Chowder Cameo at the End, Crushes, Dex Is A Good Hockey Bro, Fluff, Gen, POV William "Dex" Poindexter, Pining, Tickle Fights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11722443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memori_wanderis/pseuds/Memori_wanderis
Summary: Dex notices Bitty has been 'off' lately.  He goes to talk to him about why that is.





	Talk Pastry to Me.

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a week or two after the 2-6 comic (WGSS120 / HIST376: Women, Food, & American Culture ) 
> 
> It also references my earlier story "Weed Cherry," so it's slightly AU (Though the story could have actually happened, just off screen)

Dex wasn't sure which would have been more unnerving when he got to the Haus: Bitty baking fit to shatter the diet plans of eight collegate teams, or (which is what happened when he got there), Bitty not baking. For the third day straight. There was a distinct lack of baked-goods smell when he got there. The kitchen was dark and cold, which seemed to amplify the heat from the cups of coffee from Annie's in his hands. This spurred Dex on up the stairs; he wanted to unload the drinks before he burned himself.

"Bitty?" Dex rapped the back of his hand against Bitty's closed door lightly. The coffee in his hands was making knocking difficult, and he hoped he was heard.

"Dex?" Bitty said it in acknowledgement as he opened the door. "What's-is that coffee?"

"Yeah." Dex held out the drink in his left hand. "I was at Annie's, and I know you like that one latte-"

The smaller guy's eyes lit up. "Oh, honey, that's so nice of you! The door opened further and Bitty grasped the proffered coffee in both hands thankfully. "Come in, come in."

Dex could have counted the number of times he's been in Bitty's personal room in the Haus on one hand and still had fingers left to fret a major chord or two on his acoustic. It was homey, and definitely Bitty's style. Good curtains, hockey and Beyonce posters on the walls, a string of lights on the wall above his bed where he spotted a cute little stuffed bunny nestled in Bitty's sheets.

Probably a beloved childhood animal, Dex thought. No relation to Lord Toothy O'Beaverton in his own dorm room who was just there to add a little color to the place thank you very much for asking now drop it.

"Thank you so much!" Bitty exclaimed. "I was just finishing up my paper and I was starting to feel like a puppet with its strings cut and oh, this is perfect." His eyes fluttered closed as he inhaled the fumes from his coffee cup. "Saves me from going down the to the kitchen to make some. Lord, Betsy must be so lonely down there."

"Probably," Dex said. He knew Betsy well, he'd had to fix the stove in the kitchen a few times now. He didn't know how much longer she was going to last, but he decided not to say anything now. "It's been quiet in there for a few days."

This perked Bitty right up. "Oh! Let's go now!" Bitty said. "You're getting your favorite chocolate chip cookies for this."

"Bitty, Bitty wait," Dex said, before the Southerner could bolt out of his room and down the stairs. "I wasn't giving you shit because you weren't baking. You not a snack dispenser, you know? It can wait." Dex knew Bitty stress-baked, while the SMH team reaped the sugary benefits. He could see a shiver of tension at the edge of Bitty's eyes; he'd noticed that over the last few days. Tension, and the fact that Bitty seemed to be avoiding the kitchen. No one questioned it, just chalking it up to Bitty buckling down on his schoolwork. They hadn't seen what Dex had; something was up.

The thought of what that something was set a shiver at the base of Dex's spine. For a number of reasons he didn't want to think about at the moment.

"You sure, Dex?"

"Yeah," Dex said. "You do so much around here already. For, like, everyone. And I know they...we, care about you. They should ask how you are more often. Like I should just have. I thought you'd want some coffee." 

"Aw, hon," Bitty said, leading Dex to sit on his bed as he went back to his desk chair. "That's sweet. Thank you. But the team is a great bunch of folks. I know they appreciate me."

"No problem." Dex spared a glance at the floor. "I admit on the Taddy tour last year, you kinda threw me off at first glance. You, hell, the entire team is not really what I imagined a college hockey team-" especially one captained by a certain French-Canadian former pro prospect whose name Dex will not say right now "-to be like. And then I was kinda jealolus of you because you seemed to have it together."

The speech was interrupted by Bitty's laughter, as he put his latte down. "Oh, Dex, you are so wrong."

"I'm not so sure," Dex said. "Though Shitty warned me I might have been putting you on a pedestal, so I've been checking myself on that for a while now." And resisting the urge to give the Sophomore a lecture on Efficient Time Management; the boy could procrastinate like no one's business. "You're there for like everyone else. But when something's on your mind who wave it off like it's no big thing." He sighed. "Sorry. That sounded like me being a lot less of a jerk in my head. Really."

"You're not a jerk," Bitty said as Dex took a pull of his coffee. The blond guy gave him a megawatt smile. "Not to say you weren't freaking out over having your worldview radically adjusted when you came here. But you've adjusted, yourself. I think Shitty taking you under his wing has been good for you, and the team. I think everyone likes who you've become, whether they blame the, ahem, herbal enhancements or not."

Dex winced. "No, no, right now I am sober as a judge, I swear," Dex said. He seemed to be picking up some of Shitty's reputation by association. How did the team see him, now? "And you're deflecting."

"Which is something Shitty would say."

"Which makes it no less true," Dex countered. "Bitty...please? I grew up with multiple siblings and cousins who lived close enough for constant contact. In my family, you had to pretty much shout it from the rooftops get someone to notice something was wrong. It's helped me see the signs when they're not shouting. Bitty, Eric, what's wrong?"

Bitty glanced to one side, his cheek depressing as he chewed the inside of it. "I'm fine. Nothing to be concerned about."

"No one asked if you needed someone to talk to, did they?" Dex sighed as Bitty seemed to deflate. It looked like the sun burning out. "I'm offering, now. I've seen the way you've been...looking at someone lately, and the look on your face."

Bitty turned quickly to him, fear widening his eyes.

Dex held up a hand to try and calm him. "I don't think anyone else has noticed. If they had, they didn't tell me. But you haven't said anything to anyone, right?" Bitty gnawed his lip and shook his head. "You...please talk to me? You never bottle anything up and now you are and I can see you're hurting."

"Dex," Bitty whispered, wiping a hand across his eyes. "I know I shouldn't have, but...what my head tells me is right but my heart keeps giving it the finger. I don't know what I'm gonna do."

His heart seized in his chest. Bitty looking, acting like this felt every color of wrong to Dex. "Can I...do you want a hug?"

"Yes, please," Bitty said, as they both stood. Dex wrapped his arm around Bitty as the latter sniffled into his chest. 

"How long has this been going on, with him?"

"Since that class we had," Bitty said, voice muffled against Dex's chest. "I didn't mean for it to happen but we were there and it was all...nice, and I felt all this stuff and it was great and scary and..."

Dex led Bitty over to the bed, where he sat them both down, their backs against the side of it. Bitty leaned into his side as Dex kept an arm around his shoulders.

"You know feelings, especially here, are nothing to be ashamed of, right?" Dex asked.

"I just don't want him to hate me for feeling like this."

"Now that, I am one thousand percent sure, Bitty, is something he will not do. One hundred thousand percent positive. He does care about you." 

"I know," Bitty said softly. "But he isn't...he doesn't feel the same way, does he?"

"I can't answer that," Dex said. "I'm not him." Dex wondered if he had noticed the man in question giving Bitty any similar looks. But unlike Bitty, who wore his heart on his sleeve, the other one was nearly impossible to get a read on. No wonder Bitty was upset. 

"It hurts. So much," Bitty sighed, and dug closer into Dex's side. Dex squeezed his shoulder tightly. 

"I know, Bitty," Dex whispered, cuddling the older man. "I know."

"I can't tell him."

"Why not?"

"Because...because...it'll mess everything up. He hated me at first because of the checking thing and the baking and...I don't want to go back to that."

"He won't." And Dex would break his stick over the back of his neck if he did. "You won't have to. Maybe, well, maybe you should tell him?" Dex spoke quickly as he saw the look of terror in Bitty's expression. "Whatever happens, you'd...it would clear the air between you? Get it out in the open so you can go from there. Just...keeping it all bottled up is going to hurt worse than if..." Dex made no vocal assumptions of how it would all play out. He didn't want to get Bitty's hopes up, or crush them; this was an emotional minefield if he ever saw one. He'd have to speak carefully.

"And when he says no," Bitty said with a wearying sigh. "Lord, what would happen if he said yes? He's got so much going on with his future, he couldn't risk...me. And I don't know a damn thing about relationships. I've never..." Bitty winced. Back in Georgia, people usually didn't talk about this.

"It's okay. You and me both," Dex replied. "Hell, I don't even know..." Bitty raised an eyebrow at him. "I told Shitty already. I'm not straight, but I don't know how not straight I am. It's a work in progress."

"Aww, Dex," Bitty said with a quiet smile. "I'm honored you told me that. Thank you." 

Dex smiled, himself. It was getting easier to talk about. Even to himself. 

"Thank you for believing me," Dex replied.

"Of course I do," Bitty said. "And if anyone tell you they don't, you tell me and I'll give them a piece of my mind. And loss of pie privleges."

"That's cold, man."

"This is Samwell, hon," Bitty said, lifting his chin. "They should know better by now."

"Thank you." Dex said.

"Of course," Bitty said. "You'll find someone, when you're ready."

"So will you."

"I hope so. I'm sometimes a lot to deal with," Bitty admitted with a dry look.

"They'd just have to know how to talk to you," Dex said. "What to say to get you interested." A grin touched his mouth as he leaned slowly over to Bitty's ear. "Apple turnovers, baby."

"Oh," Bitty said, chuckling. "Oh my god."

"Chess pie. Muuuuufinnnnns." Dex had to clamp his mouth shut to keep from laughing, himself.

"Ohhhh, Dex," Bitty said, eyes squinted in mirth. "More, you smooth talker. Tell me more."

"Brunch, with scones," Dex said, voice lowering seductively. "Scones with Jaaaammmmm."

"Oh, Lord, yes," Bitty said, shaking his head, wildly amused. "Talk to me, Dex."

Dex let out a sigh, giving Bitty his best assumption of 'bedroom eyes.' He leaned closer with each word, letting it build.

"Chocolate," he breathed. "Chip." One more. "Cookies!" With his shout, Dex dug his fingers into Bitty's side, wiggling them fast. 

"Ahhh ha ha ha ha ha!" Bitty called out as he got tickled. He reached his arms for Dex's stomach, returning the favor. It was a little awkward since his arms were shorter, but he was smaller and could get into Dex's reach.

The tickle fight produced gales of deep, tension-relieving laughter from both boys as they tumbled across Bitty's floor, each giving as good as they got.

By the time they calmed down a few minutes later, both were flushed, sweating, and breathing heavy. Dex was propped up on his hands over Bitty, who was lying on his back facing up. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," Bitty panted. "Yeah, I needed that."

"Then my work here is done."

"You don't have to-" Bitty said, and cut himself off. "I mean, I like the company. And the hugging. Can you stay?"

"Sure," Dex said, and the two went back to leaning against Bitty's bed, and each other. 

"Thanks," Bitty said, stifling a yawn with his fist. "Thanks for, you know, reminding me I don't have to do any of this alone."

"Of course, Bitty," Dex said. "Anytime you need, I'll be right here. All of us will."

Bitty curled back into Dex's side, into his warmth. Dex slid his arm back over Bitty's shoulders. "T'hnk you," he murmured, sleepily.

Poor guy, Dex thought. All that tension wore him out. "S'okay, man," he said. "You earned some rest." He smiled, a soft one. It felt nice. All of this.

About a half hour later, Bitty snoring softly into his side, his room door opened, and Chowder poked his head in. "Hey Bit-!" 

Dex cut him off with a finger against his own lips. Shhh.

Chowder's mouth formed an 'o.' He looked between the sleeping Bitty and the Dex who was cuddling him. He raised an eyebrow at Dex while looking rapidly between them both again. 

Dex shook his head, and waved a hand parallel to the floor. It's not like that. It's all on the level.

As Chowder quietly closed the door, Dex had a moment of thought.

I wish I could have nodded, instead. 

-Fin-


End file.
